Dignity in Dying vows to continue fight for assisted dying law after MPs narrowly vote down Lauren Edwards’ Bil
“This is a devastating setback for dying people – but this is not going away. Law change on assisted dying remains a question of when, not if.”
Dignity in Dying vows to continue fight for assisted dying law after MPs narrowly vote down Lauren Edwards’ Bill
MPs have today narrowly voted against Lauren Edwards MP’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at Second Reading, bringing the latest attempt to introduce a safe and compassionate assisted dying law in England and Wales to an end in this Parliamentary session.
The result comes despite three-quarters of the British public supporting a change in the law, with majority support in every constituency in Great Britain, and after the House of Commons previously voted twice in favour of assisted dying reform.
The vote was incredibly close, with a total of 270 MPs voting in favour of the Bill, and 286 voting against. Many MPs from across the House gave powerful, emotional speeches about how their own loved ones had been harmed by the status quo; others paying tribute to constituents who have died campaigning for choice.
Claire Hazelgrove MP (Labour) shared for the first time the story of her terminally ill mother’s decision to end her own life in secret, saying: “The harmful status quo meant that mum died alone, with photos of us around her”. She then read aloud from her mother’s final note, which said: “I wish the assisted dying Bill would have come into force in my lifetime. Maybe there will be hope for others in the future”.
Dr Marie Tidball MP (Labour) fought back tears as she spoke about how her father, who is seriously ill with lung cancer and recovering from a cardiac arrest, insisted from his hospital bed that she returned to Parliament to vote in support of the Bill. She said: “Access to the choice of assisted dying as tightly drawn in the Bill today enables the terminally ill adult who chooses it to live a good death.”
Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying, said:
“It’s deeply disappointing that, by refusing to send this Bill back to the Lords, the House of Commons has endorsed the wrecking tactics of a handful of peers who stopped Kim Leadbeater’s Bill being considered properly in the first place. It will be seen as a failure of our democracy that a Bill, supported by three quarters of the public, has been blocked in this way.
“Above all, it’s devastating for dying people and their families, who will face the consequences of today’s vote. Thousands of terminally ill people will continue to suffer against their wishes in their last days and weeks. Some will travel abroad for an assisted death, if they can afford it. Others will continue to take matters into their own hands, dying alone and outside any safe or regulated system.
“Parliament has rejected the opportunity to provide those dying people with the choice and protections they want. It has denied them the comfort that is available to more than 300 million people across 26 jurisdictions across the world.
“But make no mistake: law change is inevitable, a question of when, not if. British public opinion demands that we catch up with Australia, New Zealand, and much of the US and Europe. Closer to home, terminally ill people in Jersey, the Isle of Man and France will soon have this choice. Law makers in England and Wales will not be able to resist the demand for compassion and choice forever. The question is how many dying Britons have to suffer needlessly before then.
“We are immensely grateful to Lauren Edwards and to every MP who stood with dying people today, and to Kim Leadbeater and Lord Falconer for their tireless work over the last two years. We are also grateful to the thousands of campaigners, dying people and bereaved families who have shared the most personal and painful experiences imaginable in the hope of making the law safer and more compassionate for others.
“They deserved better from Parliament today. The case for law change remains unshakeable, the public mandate remains overwhelming and the direction of travel remains clear. Dignity in Dying’s campaign will continue until dying people in this country finally have the choice and protection they deserve.”
The Bill sought to give terminally ill, mentally competent adults in their final six months of life the choice of an assisted death, alongside access to high-quality palliative and end-of-life care.
Its defeat means the current law remains unchanged, with terminally ill people continuing to suffer against their wishes, travel abroad for an assisted death or take matters into their own hands behind closed doors. Meanwhile similar bills have been passed in Jersey and the Isle of Man where some terminally ill Britons will be able to access assisted dying as soon as next year, while those in England and Wales will be denied the same choice.
Also during the debate, Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, Chair of the Health Select Committee, highlighted the role that successive assisted dying bills have already played in focusing attention on palliative care, telling MPs that the Modern Services Framework for End of Life Care would not otherwise have been on the agenda.
Veteran Labour MP Hilary Benn gave a powerful speech in support of the Bill, saying MPs “can any longer justify the contradiction that exists at the heart of this debate”. He went on to describe the hundreds of British people every year who choose to end their lives in Switzerland as “a gaping hole in the argument against the Bill”.
Former minister Liz Kendall MP (Labour) pushed back on opponent claims that improving palliative care should take precedent over legalising the choice, reminding MPs that “Even with the best quality, universal palliative care, it will not relieve unbearable suffering for some people. We know that from respected research institutions, from hospices, and from patients themselves, and we should listen to their voices.”
The vote follows more than two years of sustained parliamentary debate on assisted dying and hundreds of hours of scrutiny across both Houses.
The previous Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed both its Second and Third Readings in the House of Commons before being obstructed by opponents in the House of Lords, where more than 1,200 amendments were tabled to ensure the Bill ran out of parliamentary time.
Meanwhile, momentum for legalising assisted dying continues elsewhere. In the two years Parliament has been debating the Bill, three more US States and the remaining Australian state to do so have adopted assisted dying laws for terminally ill people. France has become the latest European country to change the law.
New research from Dignity in Dying also demonstrates the consequences of leaving the current law unchanged. Only one in six cases involving someone accompanying a person to Dignitas reaches the Director of Public Prosecutions, meaning there is little oversight of the vast majority of assisted deaths already taking place abroad.
Dying people are also taking their own lives even while receiving specialist palliative care. Eight per cent of NHS Trusts and Health Boards that held relevant data recorded at least one suicide or attempted suicide by a patient receiving specialist palliative care between 2023 and 2025. For a third of NHS Trusts, no data was available.
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For more information, please contact Tom Steen, Media & Campaigns Officer at tom.steen@dignityindying.org.uk or 07356135578